The last sunset over Calcutta, the last sunset on my voyage along the Ganges. Life along the river bank continues the same as it always has and much the same as I feel it always will do.
More images after the jump. Click here to read full post…

I’d been on the trip for almost two months, working my way from one destination to the next while following the course of this great river. Suddenly it hit me that this destination would be my last, the journey was now drawing to an end. More after the jump Click here to read full post…

Inside the workshops of Calcutta’s idol makers. The area of Kumartuli in the North of the city is home to the many Kumar (sculptors) who create the idols that are offered to the Ganges during religious festivals. More images after the jump…Click here to read full post…

Worthy of a mention all by itself has to go to the Howrah Bridge. I crossed this within minutes of leaving Howrah station and immediately fell in love with it. More images after the jump Click here to read full post…

I have arrived in the great city now known as Kolkata. There is a great energy here like no other place I’ve visited in India and so far it’s been a real highlight of the trip Click here to read full post…

I’m currently in Bodhgaya in the state of Bihar, while the town does not border the Ganges (it lies slightly to the North) it is however a major pilgrimage site. This is thanks to Siddhartha Gautama who whilst sitting here under the venerated Bodhi tree achieved enlightenment and went on to become the spiritual teacher Gautama Buddha founder of the worlds fourth largest religion, Buddhism Click here to read full post…

Varanasi is a place which is unapologetic in showing all aspects of life. From birth and death to the divine and the repellant, it’s all here on display. Here’s a day in the life of this most revered and holy cityClick here to read full post…

The Aarti ceremony held each evening at the Dashashwamedh ghat (bank) in Varanasi is certainly something to be witnessed. The ceremony is held in honour of Lord Shiva and in Hindu mythology it is said that Lord Brahma created this very ghat to welcome Lord Shivas arrival.
On my first trip to India in 2011 it was this ceremony that made the greatest impression on me. In my previous two visits to Varanasi I’d both photographed and filmed it extensively so this time I wanted to try something a little different to hopefully capture it in a new light Click here to read full post…

Work like a navvy, rest like a king. The kings of Allahabad at rest just outside the main railway station. Cycle rickshaws are popular and widely used all over India. The decoration of them can often be diverse and intricate. On my first trip to India I had found Rajasthan to have the most abundance of decorated rickshaws, that was until I arrived in Allahabad Click here to read full post…

Young Brahmin Hindu priest giving me a gaze beyond his years in the major pilgrimage site of Allahabad.
It is here that the Ganges, Yamuna and Saraswati rivers meet making it of the utmost importance to Hindus.
The Kumbh Mela takes place here every four years and is one of the largest gatherings of people on the planet.
More to follow after the jump Click here to read full post…

The next port of call was the city of Lucknow. Here I am with some friendly school kids who asked for a picture. Very polite bunch of lads, their shirts were whiter than mine but then again their Mums washed theirs. The stop off here didn’t do exactly as planned (planning in India is more of a concept), but one great thing I managed to sort out was the magic box of tricks and saviour that is the Tata Dacomo Click here to read full post…

The build up to the Shivratri festival here in Haridwar has led to a huge influx of pilgrims, so much so that it seems the local police have resorted to bringing in the cavalry to keep order. Their job seems to be two fold: keep the crowds moving on the Bara Bazaar which leads down to the bathing ghat and also move on the unauthorised sellers of decorations for the pilgrims ‘Kaawars’.
Further explanations with more words (boo) and pictures (yay) after the jump Click here to read full post…

The Aarti is usually performed at the end of the Puja ceremony in places of religious significance along the banks of the Ganges. I’ve seen it performed lots of times in Varanasi which lies further down the Ganges but had never witnessed it here in Haridwar. More to follow after the jump…Click here to read full post…

After a few days in Rishikesh it was time to move further down river onto the holy city of Haridwar. It’s only a short distance from Rishikesh but as I drew closer I realised that there were a lot of people heading in the same direction Click here to read full post…

I arrived back in Rishikesh and it seemed as though I hadn’t quite yet had the full range of weather.
Since leaving here nine days previously to travel further North I’d found myself contending with blizzards, extreme cold, heavy rain and landslides. Now it was the turn of thunder, lightning and hail Click here to read full post…

After arriving in Devprayag the previous evening in continued to pour with rain the rest of the night. The drive here in the elements on the the high and unstable roads had been a bit nerve wracking (plus I was still recovering from Jhala) and I was looking forward to getting a hotel and the weather improving for the next morning, thankfully it didClick here to read full post…

Don’t look down, don’t look up either. This day I travelled from Uttarkashi further South along the Bhagirathi river to where it meets with the Alaknanda at Devprayag to form the Ganges. Click here to read full post…

The power of the Ganges. Whilst travelling in this area I’d heard mention of what was referred to locally as ‘the disaster’ that happened in June of last year. Although I’d already seen brief glimpse of it’s legacy it was only when I spent time in the town of Uttarkashi that I started to really understand the extent of what had happened. Click here to read full post…

The State of Uttarakhand is known as Dev Boomi, literally translating as the home of the Devas or land of the Gods. When you find yourself travelling through this landscape you start to understand why, soaring mountains and deep valleys dropping off to the Bhagirathi river below completely throw you known sense of scale. Can you see the four people on the path North of the bridge? They’re there I promise you Click here to read full post…

The Bhagirathi River snaking it’s way North towards it’s source at the Gangotri glacier 46km away. This was as close to the source as I was able to get (you can find out why in the previous post).
This was shot from the village of Jhala and where the journey down the Ganges river is to start. From here I’ll be following the route of the Bhagirathi stopping at the villages and towns of Bhuki and Uttarkashi and then continuing to Devprayag where the river meets with the Alaknanda to form the Ganges proper.
From there my planned route is to then stop again at Rishikesh and then move onto the pilgrimage town of Hardiwar. From there I’ll be moving out of the mountains and onto the plains of the Ganges where my stop offs will be Lucknow, Allahbad and the most holy city of Varanasi – this will be my third visit here.
From there I’ll be stopping at the Buddhist town of Bodhgaya and then onto Calcutta (my first visit here) and then to Sagar island where the Hindus believe the holy river ends. From there I’ll then be crossing into neighbouring Bangladesh to spend some time documenting the boat yards of Chittagong.
I hope you’ve enjoyed the images so far and I’m sure there’ll be many more to follow.

On the sixth of February I left Rishikesh to head up North to the source of the Ganges, I would then work my way South along it’s route as planned until the rivers end at the Bay of Bengal. I booked a jeep for the trip and left Rishikesh in the early hours for what would be around an eight hour trip to get as close to the source as possible, it didn’t turn out like that….Click here to read full post…

I’ve been in Rishikesh for just under a week now, a fair amount of time has had to be devoted to arranging onward travel plans and also clearing a slight backlog of work from when I departed London. That said, that’s all been taken care of now and I’ve managed to (what seems like finally) put in a couple of solid days shooting. One thing I’d almost forgotten about is how wonderful the light here Click here to read full post…

During my first few days here I’ve been planning for the journey further North to the source of the Ganges from where I’ll be beginning the trip. I knew that choosing to do this in February would make things difficult and I’ve since found out that it will just be that.
I’m currently in Rishikesh (the largest dot on the map) at an elevation of 340 meters and the Northernmost dot on the map shows the destination of Gaumukh which is regarded as Click here to read full post…

After a couple of days spent in the Indian capital Delhi I’ve now arrived in the Northern State of Uttarakhand after a short pleasant flight from Indra Gandhi airport. As soon as I landed at Deradun I was struck by the changes, there is a sense of space and light here which is very different to the noisy and dusty capital. Uttarakhand is known as the land of the Gods and being up here I can see Click here to read full post…

So my big plan for early 2014 is to spend twelve weeks travelling the length of the River Ganges from the source in the Himalayas right the way to Chittagong in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh.

It will be my third time in India in just four years and for this trip I had made a conscious decision to have a definite start and end point and following the route of the Ganges River presented itself as an obvious choice. The River stretches some 2,500 km across India and into Click here to read full post…

So here we are, after many weeks and months of planning and activity the new website is now live. I’ve had the idea to launch a second site dedicated to my self initiated work for many years now and I’m very excited that it now finally sees the light of day. This new venture represents a conscious shift for me in the direction of dedicating more time and energy towards self initiated projects.

While my existing site oliver-knight.com will still be running to cater for my commissioned and client photography I’m now very pleased to have this new site to act as a dedicated outlet for my personal projects. In terms of new projects I have something very exciting planned for early 2014 so head on over to the video section to discover more. This represents my first major piece of video work there are other plenty of other projects on the horizon too.

This new website also offers the chance to buy prints of my images directly from the site thanks to its integration with Photoshelter. All images when selected have a ‘buy print’ button and you can choose the size and finish to your liking. It’s a fully automated service in conjunction with the lab Spectrum Photographic in the UK and they also take care of the packaging and postage worldwide. I’ll also be offering limited edition signed and mounted prints from Spring of 2014 so keep an eye out for those too.

The site will be growing not only as new content is added but also in terms of the sections on offer. From Spring 2014 there will also be a quarterly magazine available hosted by Issuu.com and also a shop where you’ll be able to purchase items collected on my travels

As for the name of the site it came about as quite an organic process. I’d had the idea for the site for a while and knew I’d be needing a name for it. I wanted it to relate to the notion of travel and movement and came across the word ‘denizen’ in a wikipedia article about the ‘Bonzo Dog doo dah Band’ refering to them as a ‘created by a group of British art school denizens’. Once I’d looked up its meaning it fitted perfectly:denizen / noun1 formal an inhabitant (human or animal). 2Biol. a species of animal or plant which has become well established after being introduced to an area which it is not native. [from Old French deinzein,from deinz, within].
The fact that I’m half French on my mothers side and descended from refugee Huguenot French on my fathers was a nice bonus and acted as sign it was the name to go for….